Mariners Game #74 Preview: 6/16/24, Texas at Seattle

Every day is Father’s Day for Padres fans

As much sense as it made for the Mariners to throw Emerson Hancock on Thursday, both getting extra rest for the Big 3 and lining them up to face the Rangers, I have to say I’m a little disappointed. It robbed us of a Logan Gilbert-Nathan Eovaldi matchup, which would have been fun since I think Eovaldi is the pitcher most similar to Gilbert. He throws the same arsenal with the same great, but not elite, command. They even get to pretty similar results. There are differences of course, with Eovaldi having a better splitter and worse slider, but it’s a very similar package, and it would have been fun to see them face off.

The two did face each other in May 2022, but Gilbert was a pretty different pitcher then. And there’s still a chance we’ll get this matchup in one of the remaining two Rangers series in September. In the meantime, one just hopes that Gilbert shows better today than Eovaldi did last night.

Lineups!

Facing off against the righty Dane Dunning, we once again get the lefty brigade, with Rojas, Raley, and Canzone all getting starts. Newest dad on the team, Dylan Moore, will play second base on this Father’s Day. If life is merciful, we will be spared too many refernces to dad strength.

On the other side, I feel like there’s been a lot of cowering about the Rangers’ lineup over the last six months, and not without reason. So it’s worth noting that Travis Jankowski is their designated hitter today.

Game Info

First pitch: 1:10 PT
TV: We are finally free of the cost of national exposure, back on ROOT with Goldy and Blowers today
Radio: 710 ESPN and Mariners dot com (Sims and Rizzs)

This Day In Mariners History

• 1986: Jamie Moyer makes his MLB debut, picking up a win for the Cubs.
• 2008: Five years into bad decisions and two weeks after locking the team in the clubhouse, GM Bill Bavasi is finally fired. Later that day, King Felix throws the Mariners first (and to date only) immaculate inning.
• 2018: Wade LeBlanc pitches the best game of his career, blanking the eventual 108-win and World Champion Boston Red Sox with a final line of 7.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 9 K. I happen to be in Boston for a wedding when this happened and people were Losing. Their. Minds.

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